A half-hour period Aug. 23 epitomizes Tom Amoss' 2025 summer. At approximately 2:04 pm ET, Big Dom (McKinzie ) became the fourth juvenile winner trained by him this year at Saratoga Race Course. About 15 minutes later and 930 miles away, Paving (Gun Runner) gave Amoss another 2-year-old winner, at around the same time he was about to take his seat on the desk for Saratoga Live, the daily broadcast produced by the New York Racing Association in conjunction with Fox Sports.
Altogether, Amoss 2-year-olds have made 20 starts, picking up six wins and 11 top-three finishes.
Owned by Greenwell Thoroughbreds, Big Dom was a private, post-sale purchase after failing to meet his reserve at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale, bringing a final bid of $160,000. He was bred by Merribelle Stable and is out of the Pulpit mare Half A.P. Like many Amoss 2-year-olds, he got his start at Highlander Training Center in Sulphur Springs, Texas. Highlander also owns and bred Paving.
"As Big Dom progressed through our initial breaking and pre-training, he got better and better," said Jeff Hooper, Highlander's chairman and CEO. "When he got on the van to go to Tom, we felt really good about him. He understood the program and the task at hand, and he was really coming together mentally as well as physically."
The bay colt needed that development to prevail in his six-furlong debut. Sitting comfortably outside of pacesetting Dr. Kapur through an opening quarter of :22.64, Big Dom and jockey José Ortiz engaged the leader approaching the eighth pole and, from there, the two battled in close to the wire, with Big Dom getting up by a neck.
"I think the most interesting fact about him is that he has been the work partner for It's Our Time, who won very impressively last week," said Amoss, in something of an understatement about another of his 2-year-old winners. "He never outworked It's Our Time, but he always stayed with him, so we had some high hopes today going in.
"He'd been working well, but sometimes translating that to the afternoon doesn't always work," he continued. "There's just a lot going on with these young horses, but he handled everything really well."
A week earlier, Amoss debuted Virginia-bred It's Our Time, who went out at odds of 5-1 for owners Double Down Horse Racing. The son of Not This Time won in a similar fashion to his stablemate ... at least in the early going. Luis Saez tracked the early leader on the outside in second, but this time, the race was essentially over by the quarter pole, with It's Our Time romping to a 17 3/4-length win.
It's Our Time was bred by South Gate Farm and sold for $425,000 at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
"I've got a look I like at the sales, and both of these horses matched it," said Amoss. "We've got a team that looks at horses; they're former trainers or they worked for me at one time. Big Dom and It's Our Time are both very athletic. It's Our Time hasn't grown in size a lot, but this horse definitely did and definitely developed."
Among those working with Amoss at the sales are Ron Faucheux, Chris Richard, and Brent Sumja.
"We don't take any commission on sales," said Amoss. "When the horse wins, that's where our commission will come in, so we take the risk with them."
Amoss's other maiden special weight winners at Saratoga this year are Spa Prospector (Authentic ) and One More Freud (Tonalist ). In May, Dazzle d'Oro (Bolt d'Oro ) won on debut at Churchill Downs. All six of the trainer's juvenile winners started their careers at Highlander.
Paving and One More Freud were both bred by Larry Hirsch, the owner of the training center. Both were also owned by Highlander when they broke their maidens for Amoss.
"We had known Tom for years, but about two years ago, we brought a group of owners and trainers from Fair Grounds to see Highlander," said Hooper. "We wanted to show them our facilities, have them meet our team, and see who we are and what we do."
Off of that visit, Amoss decided to send some of his yearlings to Texas for their early training, and it's obviously a combination that's working.
Later this week, another Highland alumna, Revel Toast, will return to the races at Saratoga for Amoss after finishing second by a head in her debut at the track.
"We loved her when she was here," said Hooper. "She ran so big and just barely got beat."
After Big Dom's win, Amoss observed that while the colt has always been imposing, his physical appearance had recently changed.
"The brightness of his coat," he said. "He's gotten shiny and dappled, and I knew coming into the race that we'd get his best effort. I credit that to the stable. We have a good feed program, and everybody contributes, especially his groom, who takes care of him every day. We're a team."
And then he had to leave, because the crew at the paddock-side set were waiting for him to take his spot among the broadcast team, covering Saratoga's afternoon races.
